‘Young Justice: Outsiders’ Recap, Episodes 4-6

Last week, Young Justice: Outsiders introduced us to the new status quo with a Pyrrhic victory for Nightwing’s op. The metahuman trafficking ring in Markovia was shutdown, but not before Count Vertigo managed to boom tube away with some kids. This week we deal with the aftermath.

Episode 4: Private Security

The episode starts with a single question on everyone’s mind: “Where’s Dick?” Artemis and Will Harper are housing Halo. Ms. Martian and Superboy are housing Prince Brion. Black Lightning is playing chaperone to Dr. Helga Jace in Metropolis. All parties are unsure how long they are expected to keep hosting their new friends.

Housemates

It turns out that Nightwing is in Star City. He enlists the help of the Harper siblings to help shutdown a different metahuman trafficking ring. Dick has already convinced Roy (a.k.a. Arsenal) and Jim (a.k.a. Guardian I) and he manages to sweet talk the head of Bowhunter Security, Will (a.k.a. Red Arrow). However, Will does so as a quid pro quo — his two relatives and Grayson have to help with a job first. As they rock their security outfits, Dick questions his decision to gather all three Harpers in one place, but it’s not like he does anything during the day.

Over with Artemis and Halo, they see some Goode Goggles users in the park. Artemis flashbacks to the beach and Halo’s manifestations of her aura-based powers. Halo still doesn’t remember her past, but does know that her hijab feels right. The two find Dr. Fate, who identifies Halo as “an old soul” before Zatanna comes in to visit with her father for an hour. Artemis informs Halo that they aren’t here for the reunion but the inevitable separation of father and daughter.

Meanwhile, the Bowhunter Security owner and contractors are watching over a shipment of Goode VR googles. Will Harper gives Dick crap about the girl sleeping on his coach. They all watch as a street-level villain, Brick, confidently states that his crew is gonna steal the shipment of tech in broad daylight.

Pan to Metropolis for a second, Dr. Jace and Jefferson bond over hotdogs and a shared responsibility for the kids on the beach.

Bowhunter Security

Back in Star City, Will Harper finds part of Brick’s crew and Bowhunter Security gives chase in their SUV. We are then treated to a nice highway action sequence alongside the Pacific Coast Highway.

Jump to Happy Harbor, where Conner Kent takes a very zen approach to easing Prince Brion’s into his exile status as he fixes up a motorcycle.

The action continues to rise on the highway.

Brick turns the SUV into a convertible and then again into ocean debris. Will and Dick show off their acrobatics and hand-to-hand combat skills as Jim and Roy work on their own truck.

The highway heist reaches its climax as two of the trucks get secured easily. The third truck takes a second and Will begins to chew out Dick on pretty much every level. Dick has lost his way. He has forgotten that “The mission is what the mission becomes”. Will slowly course corrects Nightwing back to the adoptive big brother and team lead he is. Bowhunter Security successfully recovers the last truck and celebrates victorious. Later in the evening, the same team in their superhero gear successfully shutdown the local metatrafficking ring without breaking a sweat. Fade to black.

Episode 5: Away Mission

At New Genesis, Orion meets with some Bugs in order to make a trade. A red Bug, Forager, claims to have mined only the finest material. But when the lead Bug, Mantis, discovers that Orion’s boxes are fake, a skirmish breaks loose after Orion acts a little more jerk-ish than usual. Orion and his lackeys win and Mantis scolds Forager for wanting to believe that Orion was honorable.

Bugs and Bears

Back in Happy Harbor, M’gann, Conner, and Lucas Carr (from way back in season 1) are enjoying the afternoon while Prince Brion is feeling a little cooped up. Doesn’t help that his brother is bound in political red tape when it comes to getting Brion back home.

M’gann enjoys some light scrapbooking as Bear, friendly New God, greets his Earth buddies. Bear he’s in good spirits, but has to explain about a bad situation back at home. Turns out he’s been called in by Forager to identify Orion’s lackeys from the intro — they’re human and thus a problem for them all to solve. Conner insists that he needs to stay behind with Brion. Ms. Martian rallies the team: Blue Beetle, Kid Flash II, newcomer Thirteen, Wonder Girl, and Static. Wonder Girl yells at Tim over the whole Batfamily schism, but before long Bear and the team are off to New Genesis.

On Earth

Halo and Brion chat about their current predicaments, as the older members discuss what to do with the kids. Lucas suggests that the two join up, but everyone has some qualms. Nightwing tries to see what Brion can do.

Messing around, Brion gets overcoached when it comes to shooting a small rock with his powers and goes a little volcanic. Halo comments on how Brion is broken, and then asks to test the limits of her powers. She has a red aura for blocking but activates a yellow force projection blast which knocks her out.

That’s temporary, however, as Halo’s violet aura heals her back to full health. Thereafter, Brion attempts to leave. Nightwing has an ace up his sleeve and convinces him to say with the promise of finding Brion’s sister, Terra.

New Genesis

The team does a preliminary scan, but the Bugs attack. Forager intervenes long enough for Bear to explain that the real Orion is off-planet, but Mantis ain’t buying.

Ms. Martian leads a sting operation to try to lure in Orion. Fake-Orion shows up with two controlled metahumans and tries to raise hell, but it quickly devolves into a fight. Ms. Martian senses some telepathic waves from fake-Orion and assuming White Martian control, absconds with fake-Orion. She confronts fake-Orion and reveals him to her little brother. The two White Martians discuss the very weird race allegory of Red and Green Martians oppressing White Martians. This leads to familiar evocations of “the greater good” and political revolution. It’s a little weird, but what can you do when the clearly evil younger brother pulls out “the ends justify the means” and a right hook? Guess we know who was behind the Fake-Orion.

Bear and the team spar against the metahumans as the White Martian siblings engage in psychic warfare. The team mostly has the upper-hand, until the Hive joins the fray. Forager knows that the team is just trying to do good and breaks rank to help his new friends. Forager just wants peaceful resolution, y’know?

In the mental landscape, Ms. Martian manages to dictate the terms of the fight. She flashbacks to their childhood and the memories of the team. She’s got Aqualad, Wally, Artemis, Zatanna, the Logans, Wolf, and, most notably, a young Dick Grayson (Ms. Martian still holding a grudge against Nightwing from season 2, I see). Ms. Martian wins, but little brother escapes by killing the two metahuman lackeys and phasing out while everyone is shocked. Forager gets singled out for causing the incident, even Mantis is disapproving. Ms. Martian tries to defend, but it gets to the point where Forager has to become a refugee on Earth. I feel for the dude. It’s his eyes and clicks y’all. He just wants to do right by his Hive. He says good-bye to New Genesis and boom tubes back to Earth to the unknown.

Episode 6: Rescue Op

Al-Qawiya, August 5. A man exits a nightclub playing Funny Monkeys on those patented Goode Goggles before running into… Black Spider. Wow, you gotta give DC props for being so brazen in riffing off Spider-Man and making him in straight-up of the League of Shadows. Black Spider has an odd southern drawl, plenty of quips, and likes to play with his prey. That is until his mysterious partner, a young girl with red eyes, ends the hunt with a giant bolder. Hm… Surely that’s not foreshadowing a familiar character to DC fans (I jest).

Oracle’s Here

In Gotham City, we finally get a glimpse of Barbara Gordon as Oracle. She’s in a wheelchair and also playing Funny Monkeys before getting distracted by Dick poorly trying to sneak up on her. After being judo flipped, Dick smiles from the floor and replies “I’m a professional acrobat. I meant to do that.” Dick and Barbara are in a loving, happy, and by all metrics surprisingly stable relationship and that’s just nice to see. But the two are interrupted in their coupleness by an alert on the computer.

At Happy Harbor, Brion and Halo are walking around the property when Halo learns that she is unfamiliar with hunger. Brion offers an apple and the two share a kind moment. Forager learns that English has been downloaded into his brain and I’m already at the point where I would die for this Bug. Forager meets Brion and Halo, and Halo gives a surprisingly detailed account of New Genesis which surprises literally everyone — even Halo didn’t know she knew any of it. Brion proceeds to geek out over meeting a “real alien” (cue side eyes from Conner and M’gann).

Ms. Martian explains that Forager is also a refugee, so now they’re all in a club and can share the apples. The housing issues concern all parties, but Ms. Martian converts the SUV (which happens to be the Bioship) into an RV. Jefferson makes a joke about it turning into Mars-town before facetiming Dr. Jace into the conversation. She provides an update on Terra’s status and her potential geoforce manifestations. Dick enters with a “that’s what we were thinking too” before quickly having to edit himself to “me.” Looks like Barbara’s status is hush hush ‘round these parts. Dick updates the team on the assassination at Al-Qawiya and the potential League of Shadows involvement. Brion wants to move quickly. Nightwing informs him that Ra’s al Ghul, a.k.a The Demon’s Head, is located on Infinity Island and they definitely can’t go there. No sir. Not with a plan.

Three guess on what happens next? Your first two don’t count.

They Gave The Kids an RV, What’d They Expect?

Brion, Halo, and Forager retreat into the RV, providing Brion cover to make arrangements with Dr. Jace about a rescue op. When Brion starts to leave, Halo and Forager note that they’re all part of the same Hive now — it’s a little too adorable of a prelude before they fly away with Sphere. Wolf notes this and does absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, as the kids are off on their own mission, the adults are discussing what to do with them. Barbara pings Dick with an update. Turns out Halo is actually Gabrielle Daou, Qurac refugee and former waitress at the Markovian Royal Palace. Everyone’s excited about the info, which is when they notice that the kids are gone.

Infinity Island

The rescue op starts with a typical amount of stealth, however, Infinity Island is oddly deserted. As the quartet makes their way to the castle, Halo starts brainstorming secret identities, she picks Violet at home and Halo on the job. They stumble on a lone warrior meditating. Brion pisses him off. The lone warrior starts trash talking and Brion demands to know where to find the the army of assassins. The warrior replies simply “I don’t need an army. I trained the army.”

Brion and Forager get schooled on how little they know about combat when the lone warrior wipes the floor with them without breaking a sweat. When Halo joins the fray, the warrior demonstrates his cruelty and proceeds to snap Halo’s neck.

At this point, I’d like to point that this is the third time that Halo has died on screen and there’s something odd about the fact that they keep killing this poor persecuted woman of color in exceedingly brutal ways. First buried alive, then incinerated, then this. We know her purple aura can heal her, but it’s still a bit distressing and something that can’t go unsaid.

Upon Halo’s 3rd death, Brion flips out, but the warrior brings in reinforcements and captures everyone in short order. Brion and Forager are tossed in a cell with control chips and Sphere is chained up. Halo’s corpse is tossed in and everyone grieves until she inevitably resurrects. This is the point when the adults turn up and rescue the rescuers.

At the entrance, the lone warrior now has a sword. The fight is a beautiful brawl. Until, Ra’s al Ghul shows up. He puts everything to a stop and explains that he no longer commands the League of Shadow or a place in the light. Dick vouches for Ra’s’ honesty and the team makes their exit. And HOLY $%@# is that Damian? IS THAT JASON TODD? Y’ALL GONNA DO THAT DO THAT TO US IN THE LAST MINUTES?

Ahem.

The New Hive

The team debriefs. When Nightwing tries to shutdown down the antics of the trio, Brion, Halo, and Forager double down on their new Hive status (with RV Bioship too). Halo suggests that they remain on the outside together. Artemis informs Halo about her past identity, and Halo flashes back to that life before rejecting it and claiming Violet as her new name.

Can it be next week already?

Yeah fam. It’s safe to say that Young Justice: Outsiders has retained its title as best animated series you could be watching. It’s both familiar and new and all around awesome.

Review all of our Young Justice: Outsiders recaps, old and new, right here.

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